As the release date for Heir of Hope approaches, the final book in the Follower of the Word series, I thought it might be fun to share some of the more interesting facts behind the characters, the setting, and the plot. Enjoy!

*I started writing this series almost exactly eleven years ago. Wow!

*Daughter of Light was originally supposed to be a stand-alone novel. About halfway through the first draft, I realize there was a lot more to the story.

*I completely rewrote Daughter of Light four times (and that doesn’t include the two rewrites during the official editing process).

*Many of the places in the Follower of the Word series are based on real places I have visited including the Oregon Coast, the Rocky Mountains, and the Mojave Desert.

*When I could, I would explore a place to write a scene accurately. For example, for the scene outside Avonai in Daughter of Light at night I went for a walk on the beach in order to see what it would look like, sound like, smell like, feel like, especially to see how well a person could see during a full moon on the beach. Verdict? You can actually see pretty well 🙂

*Nierne, one of the main characters, originally came from a group of islands to the west. Somewhere I found the name Nierne and it meant “western islands”. Since then, I have never been able to find her name again online and she ended up in the Thyrian Monastery instead.

*Knowing the ending to my books is very important to me before I start writing. However, when I discovered Daughter of Light would be more than one book, I had no idea how I would end the series. Two years later, at a Women of Faith conference, I was sitting in an arena filled with thousands of women and I suddenly saw the ending. I grabbed a napkin (the only thing I could find) and started jotting down the ending that would eventually become Heir of Hope.

*When Daughter of Light was originally published, there was no series name. When Son of Truth came out, we decided we needed a name for this series. I had earmarked Follower of the Word for the title for the last book, but we decided it made a good series title instead. So that left me to figure out a name for the last book. I realized the main theme for the last book was hope, and Rowen carries the hope of both her people and mankind, and thus Heir of Hope was born.

*The cover for Heir of Hope is based on a scene from the story.

It’s been quite a journey and hard to believe it is almost finished (at least for me). I hope to someday revisit this world, perhaps in the form of a novella that might extend Caleb’s story, or another series that takes a look at the Nordic Wars, an world-altering event that precedes the Follower of the Word series.

Heir of Hope releases April 21st. In conjunction with the release, I will be throwing a Facebook party that night that will include giving away a couple signed copies of Heir of Hope and a complete, signed set of the Follower of the Word series in their new covers. Of course, you are all invited 🙂 Just click here to let me know you are coming!